Digital Fortress: A Thriller
This Book is Currently in the Wild!
1 journaler for this copy...
Bought this at a thrift store sale. Excellent condition.
From the author of The Da Vinci Code comes a thriller about the "secret" world of code breakers set in the National Security Agency.
The ultimate code. It's powerful, dangerous- and unbreakable...
I enjoyed it.
At the NSA (just a stone's throw from where I live) the ultimate code has been found and is running around the best code-breaking computer in the world. It could change the world of cryptography as we all know it. On many levels, people scramble to control this code and keep it a secret... and, at the same, also try to figure out what the heck is happening as twists and turns they hadn't counted on are thrown at them.
My favorite character was easily poor David, who is racing around Spain trying to recover a crucial part of the key to cracking and using the code... only he (like everyone else) doesn't have the whole story.
My mother (who read this before me) says she didn't like the ending at all. I'll admit the ending wasn't the best, but at least it didn't have a simple, happy, easy solution. The layers of complication are fun to watch unravel, as we try to crack the code along with the chracters.
Things I didn't like so much: While there was action and mystery, I felt like Dan tried to hard to make the story mysterious and complicated. Some of the twists were incredible, while I could see others coming a mile away. And if he mentioned the lurker in the wire-rim glasses one more time, I was going to go insane.
Also, the NSA isn't as secret to me as Dan wanted it to be. I have met NSA officials and I've had friends in college who went to work for the NSA. I can't imagine how people, even back in 1998, would think this agency was as mysterious as Dan wants it to be (or not even know about it in the first place). As a computer scientist who took an entire year of cryptography classes as a graduate student, I enjoyed the setting and plot because I knew so much about it and love that world... but I found it either too fictional or way too basic for me. (For example, I didn't need pages to explain what a brute force algorithm is or tell the story of the origins of a computer bug). Someone without my technical and mathematical background would probably enjoy it in a much different way. But I did love the realism of the geeky, brilliant characters in "my world". It's a fine line for me, but this is all the reason it got 8 stars from me instead of 10.
I enjoyed it, especially David's story.
From the author of The Da Vinci Code comes a thriller about the "secret" world of code breakers set in the National Security Agency.
The ultimate code. It's powerful, dangerous- and unbreakable...
I enjoyed it.
At the NSA (just a stone's throw from where I live) the ultimate code has been found and is running around the best code-breaking computer in the world. It could change the world of cryptography as we all know it. On many levels, people scramble to control this code and keep it a secret... and, at the same, also try to figure out what the heck is happening as twists and turns they hadn't counted on are thrown at them.
My favorite character was easily poor David, who is racing around Spain trying to recover a crucial part of the key to cracking and using the code... only he (like everyone else) doesn't have the whole story.
My mother (who read this before me) says she didn't like the ending at all. I'll admit the ending wasn't the best, but at least it didn't have a simple, happy, easy solution. The layers of complication are fun to watch unravel, as we try to crack the code along with the chracters.
Things I didn't like so much: While there was action and mystery, I felt like Dan tried to hard to make the story mysterious and complicated. Some of the twists were incredible, while I could see others coming a mile away. And if he mentioned the lurker in the wire-rim glasses one more time, I was going to go insane.
Also, the NSA isn't as secret to me as Dan wanted it to be. I have met NSA officials and I've had friends in college who went to work for the NSA. I can't imagine how people, even back in 1998, would think this agency was as mysterious as Dan wants it to be (or not even know about it in the first place). As a computer scientist who took an entire year of cryptography classes as a graduate student, I enjoyed the setting and plot because I knew so much about it and love that world... but I found it either too fictional or way too basic for me. (For example, I didn't need pages to explain what a brute force algorithm is or tell the story of the origins of a computer bug). Someone without my technical and mathematical background would probably enjoy it in a much different way. But I did love the realism of the geeky, brilliant characters in "my world". It's a fine line for me, but this is all the reason it got 8 stars from me instead of 10.
I enjoyed it, especially David's story.
Journal Entry 2 by KateKintail at Book Thing Of Baltimore, Inc. (As Of May 2010 Not Accepting BC Book Donations) in Baltimore, Maryland USA on Saturday, March 15, 2008
Released 16 yrs ago (3/15/2008 UTC) at Book Thing Of Baltimore, Inc. (As Of May 2010 Not Accepting BC Book Donations) in Baltimore, Maryland USA
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
RELEASE NOTES:
Donated to the Book Thing today
Congrats and welcome to BookCrossing!
Thank you so much for picking up this book. Please make a journal entry here on this page if you haven’t already done so to let me know that this book has found a good home. You may choose to remain anonymous or to join (it is entirely free). If you choose to join, I would love if you could indicate KateKintail referred you.
I really hope you enjoy the book you found! When you’re done reading it, you can make another journal entry with your comments here to let me know what you thought of it. You can keep the book forever and ever or pass it on to someone else. If you’re giving it to someone directly, make another journal entry saying so. If you choose to leave it somewhere “in the wild” for anyone to catch, make release notes that indicate where you left it. If you register, you will be alerted by e-mail each time someone makes another journal entry. It’s all confidential (you’re known only by your screen name and no one is ever given your e-mail address), free, and spam-free. Then you can track this book as it goes on its journey!
Donated to the Book Thing today
Congrats and welcome to BookCrossing!
Thank you so much for picking up this book. Please make a journal entry here on this page if you haven’t already done so to let me know that this book has found a good home. You may choose to remain anonymous or to join (it is entirely free). If you choose to join, I would love if you could indicate KateKintail referred you.
I really hope you enjoy the book you found! When you’re done reading it, you can make another journal entry with your comments here to let me know what you thought of it. You can keep the book forever and ever or pass it on to someone else. If you’re giving it to someone directly, make another journal entry saying so. If you choose to leave it somewhere “in the wild” for anyone to catch, make release notes that indicate where you left it. If you register, you will be alerted by e-mail each time someone makes another journal entry. It’s all confidential (you’re known only by your screen name and no one is ever given your e-mail address), free, and spam-free. Then you can track this book as it goes on its journey!
At the end of my trip to The Book Thing, I had a few people fill my box with books they thought would move at the festival. Unfortunately, one of the books happened to be this one- one I donated just an hour or so before! LOL! I just got home, started to register books, and discovered my own had hitched a ride back home with me. I think it's the book's way of telling me it really wants to go to the Kensington Book Festival.
This marks the second time I've accidentally/inadvertently caught my own book.
This marks the second time I've accidentally/inadvertently caught my own book.
Journal Entry 4 by KateKintail at Day Of The Book (Street Festival) On Howard Avenue in Kensington, Maryland USA on Saturday, April 19, 2008
Released 16 yrs ago (4/27/2008 UTC) at Day Of The Book (Street Festival) On Howard Avenue in Kensington, Maryland USA
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
RELEASE NOTES:
Free to whoever wants it at the BookCrossing table at the Kensington Day of the Book Festival!
Congrats and welcome to BookCrossing!
Thank you so much for picking up this book. Please make a journal entry here on this page if you haven’t already done so to let me know that this book has found a good home. You may choose to remain anonymous or to join (it is entirely free). If you choose to join, I would love if you could indicate KateKintail referred you.
I really hope you enjoy the book you found! When you’re done reading it, you can make another journal entry with your comments here to let me know what you thought of it. You can keep the book forever and ever or pass it on to someone else. If you’re giving it to someone directly, make another journal entry saying so. If you choose to leave it somewhere “in the wild” for anyone to catch, make release notes that indicate where you left it. If you register, you will be alerted by e-mail each time someone makes another journal entry. It’s all confidential (you’re known only by your screen name and no one is ever given your e-mail address), free, and spam-free. Then you can track this book as it goes on its journey!
Free to whoever wants it at the BookCrossing table at the Kensington Day of the Book Festival!
Congrats and welcome to BookCrossing!
Thank you so much for picking up this book. Please make a journal entry here on this page if you haven’t already done so to let me know that this book has found a good home. You may choose to remain anonymous or to join (it is entirely free). If you choose to join, I would love if you could indicate KateKintail referred you.
I really hope you enjoy the book you found! When you’re done reading it, you can make another journal entry with your comments here to let me know what you thought of it. You can keep the book forever and ever or pass it on to someone else. If you’re giving it to someone directly, make another journal entry saying so. If you choose to leave it somewhere “in the wild” for anyone to catch, make release notes that indicate where you left it. If you register, you will be alerted by e-mail each time someone makes another journal entry. It’s all confidential (you’re known only by your screen name and no one is ever given your e-mail address), free, and spam-free. Then you can track this book as it goes on its journey!
